Improvement in machinery for crushing sugar-cane



A. STILLMAN.

cane Mm. No. 4,682, Patemed Aug... 8,1846.

NiTE STATES PATENT @ri-ICRC ALFRED sTILLMAN, oF NEW YORK, N. Y.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 4.682, dated August 8,1846.

To all whom; it may concern Be it known that I, ALFRED STILLMAN, of thecity, county, and State of New York, have invented new and usefulImprovements in Mills for Crushing Sugar-Cane; and Ido hereby declarethat the following is a full, clear, and exact description of theprinciple or character thereof which distinguishes it from all otherthingsbefore known,'and of the manner of making, eonstructing, and usingthe same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making partof this specification, in which- Figure l is a vplan of the sugar-millwith my improvements added, Fig. 2, a longitudinal elevation thereof,and Fig. 3 a longitudinal vertical section of the same.l

The same letters are used in all the figures I to indicate like parts.

The usual method of crushing` cane is to pass it between rollersarranged with two on one' horizontal plane, and a third making pressureon and between them, and as the cane is of a spongy texture the momentit is relieved from the pressure of the rollers it expands and takes' upmuch of the saccharine matter by suction and capillary attraction, andto avoid this difficulty a second set of rollers have been combined withthe first set to recrush the cane after it has passed from the first-but experience has demonstrated that this will not do, for after thecane has been erushed by passingbetween the first set it forms a verythin layer, which, if passed to the second 'set'in that condition, willbe ground or cut through by the pressure of Vthe rollers, instead ofbeing simply erushed or squeezed to throw out the saccharine matter. Toobviate this difficulty is the object of my invention, which consists inso connecting the two sets of rollers as to cause the erushed cane topass to the second set in aconsiderable body or thickness, to preventthe rollers from cutting or grinding it through, by so combining the twosets of rollers as that the cane shall be presented to the second set ina body much thicker than when delivered by the first set.

In the accompanyi ng drawings, A represents the frame-work, properlyadapted to the working Vparts and resting on a proper foundation ofmasonry; B B1 the two bed, and C the top, rollers composing the oldsugar-mill, driven by the shaft D of the top roller, in the usualmanner. .As the erushed cane, which is fed in bya belt, E, passes fromthis first set of rollers, it

is delivered onto a curved metallic plate, a,

hung on. journals in the standards b I), so that its forward edge shallrest on the bed-roller B' to catch all the cane, and from this it isforced termed ,a 4'contracting-chute, which, as the' thin cake or sheetof erushed cane passes down, V

narrows it up and gives to the mass the required thickness to beoperated upon by the second set ofrollers. This contracting-chute,instead of being made in two parts, may be made in one,

as represented in Fig. 1, and hung on journals at the lower end. Thethick body of erushed cane is carried up on the endless apron d anddelivered onto an inclined chute, f, which directs it to the bite of theseeond'set of rollers, consisting of a bed and top rollers, F G, drivenby a cog-wheel, H, on the shaft of the bed-roller F, gearin g into acorresponding cogwheel, I, on the shaft of the upper roller, C,

of the first set. From the last set of rollers the cane, thoroughlyerushed and squeezed,

is carried off by an apron, g. vThe rollers of I each set are gearedtogether to move with equal velocities by cog-wheels li, in the usualmanner. The first apron, E, is carried by .bands consisting of a seriesof endless chains,

i, passing around and in the groove of pulleys k on'the shaft of rollerB, and a corresponding pulley, Z, on the shaft of the roller aroundwhich the apron passes, and the apron f is carried in like manner bylike bands, m, from a pulley on the shaft of the roller F.

For the' purpose of making pressure on the cane as it passes between thetwo sets of rollers, thenpper boxes, a n n n,-of the upper rollers ofthe two sets are connected' by means of rods o, that pass through holesin the frame, to springs p, and secured below them by-wedgekeys q andwashers, the npper ends of these rods being provided' with screw-nuts.

The springs p are made of wood, either of one or two pieces, andif ofone piece only, the ends bear against projections a" r on the under partof the bed-plate of the frame, and if of two, the two halves are kept atthe required distance apart by pieces of wood or any other materialbetween their ends, the upper surface of the upper half being round, toallow sufficient play to the ends.

I have contemplated other modes of applying the principle of myinvention-snch, for instance, as giving to the second set of rollers amotion so much less than the first set as to cause the cane in passingfrom the first to the' second set to accumulate in sufficient quantityto pass between the rollers of the second set in a much thicker massthan when delivered from the first set; or the second set of rollers maybe placed at right anglesv to the'first set,

so that what forms the width of the mass as it comes from the first setof rollers shall become the thickness between the rollers of the secondset; or, instead of the inelined sides of the narrowingchute of theinode first described, intermediate rollers may be used sufficiently farapart to narrow the mass and give the required increase of thickness forpassing to after it has been Crushed by the first set of rollers, to thesecond set in a body much thicker than when it left the first set, themore effectually to express the saccharine matter and to prevent thesecond set of rollers from cutting through the mass, the whole beingeffected on the principle Substantial] y as herein described.

ALFRED STILLMAN.

` Witnesses: HENRY L. HOWLETT, V EDwD. C. SToRM.

